STOCKTON - Kendall Kenyon made an early-season showdown for first-place into a personal showcase on Saturday afternoon.

Pacific's sophomore center was utterly dominant in the paint as the Tigers wrestled away the top spot in the Big West Conference from Cal State Northridge with a 60-51 victory before 465 at Spanos Center. Kenyon had 19 points, and career-highs with 22 rebounds and eight blocks, helping Pacific (14-3, 4-1) overcame poor shooting and ragged play against the Matadors (10-7, 4-2) in the first half.

"She he was tremendous," Pacific coach Lynne Roberts said. "She has a motor that just doesn't stop, and she controlled the game at both ends of the floor."

It's the 11th time in program history someone has pulled down 20-plus rebounds and the first time since Natasha Norris in 1991. Roberts said she chides Kenyon about her effort on defense and the boards every day and was happy to see her respond with such ferocity. Kenyon also led Pacific's second-half surge on offense, scoring 14 of its 37 points.

The St. Mary's product was even surprised by her final state line.

"I didn't realize I had that many blocks or rebounds," Kenyon said. "I was just fired up, and it was fun game to play in and after that first half we all knew we had to bring it in the second half."

The Tigers survived a first half that included 5-of-26 shooting, including a 7:03 stretch without a made field goal, but still led 23-20 at halftime.

"It was crazy because they were wide-open shots that would usually go down," Pacific senior captain Kendall Rodriguez said. "You have to get stops if you're not scoring and we did. It shows a lot about our maturity, that we could overcome it."